WAR IS ONLY HALF THE STORY
This exhibition, presented by The Aftermath Project and curated by Sara Terry and Teun van der Heijden, consists of ten years of work by various grant winner and finalists of the nonprofit.
I spoke to Sara Terry, who is a documentary photographer and filmmaker. She was inspired to start The Aftermath Project while working on her own post-conflict series “Aftermath: Bosnia’s Long Road to Peace,” creating a grant-making educational nonprofit for photographers covering the aftermath of war to draw attention to post-conflict issues. She was inspired by the poetry of Nobel Laureate Wislawa Szymborska, whose poetry was incorporated in the narrative. The quotes used in this presentation were taken from two of her post-conflict pieces, titled “Reality Demands” and “The End and the Beginning.”
The project focuses on the aftermath of war and the process of reconstruction that many fail to pay mind to after all the violence and destruction has occurred. In her eyes, war consists of two parts: the actual war and destruction, and then the overlooked aftermath and rebuilding of both infrastructure and society. The Aftermath Project was made possible by grants from various foundations and people, including The Foundation to Promote Open Society, PhotoWings, The Compton Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Meyer Levy Charitable Foundation, The Douglas Cox and Edward Osowski Fund for Photography and Betsy Karel. This was the first time The Aftermath Project was presented in this format.
This presentation stood out to me because it not only incorporated the work of various artists, but depicted various post-conflict stories throughout different cultures, all in very different manners. The types of images presented were extremely diverse, yet all conveyed a cohesive message. I also really enjoyed the fact that she incorporated poetry into her presentation, which assisted in the narrative she was creating. The specific quotes she chose from the two poems gave the viewer a deeper understanding of the photographs and their meaning. Needless to say, I found this exhibition extremely compelling and inspirational.